The present invention relates in general to swimsuit accessories, and more particularly to a device which enables conversion of bottom rear panel of a swimsuit from a conventional or bikini style to a thong style, and is particularly suitable for sun bathing and tanning.
Thong-type bikini swimsuit bottoms and briefs are known in the art. They are particularly suitable for sun tanning because of large areas of body exposure. However, extensive body exposures can also be embarrassing to many users when walking around in a public area, such as at a beach or a resort.
On the other hand, one-piece swimsuits or bikini swimsuits have less body exposures. It is more comfortable to wear one-piece or bikini swimsuits at a beach or at a pool party. However, when the swimsuit wearer is exposed to the sun or the lamps of a tanning booth, these types of swimsuits will leave a white outline of the shape of the garment. The white outline will often be seen when the person wears a swimsuit or other piece of clothing having a shape different from the one used to obtain the tan.
Therefore, because of the above-described reasons, it is desirable to have different types of swimsuits and to select the appropriate one for a specific purpose and occasion. However, this can be costly and inconvenient. Particularly with a two-piece bikini swimsuit, the top portion already provides a sufficient body exposure. To obtain sun tan around the buttocks, one needs to change to a thong style swimsuit.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,240,560 (to DeCaro) discloses a versatile swimsuit with accessories, which utilizes a band wrap at selected areas to change the shape of a bikini top, adjust the cut, and style of a swimsuit. More particularly, DeCaro teaches using a band wrap to wrap the rear panel of a swimsuit together to provide a thong style like swimsuit. The band wrap is made of a flexible material including elastic between the opposing inner and outer fabric panel. However, although using a band wrap to wrap a small area may be feasible, to wrap an entire rear panel into a tubular band wrap can be difficult and uncomfortable. Furthermore, the band wrapped rear panel has a poor appearance, which will affect negatively on a user""s interest.
Based on the above discussion, it is apparent that it is desirable to have a swimsuit accessory device which enables a convenient conversion of a conventional or a bikini swimsuit style to a thong style as needed. It is also desirable to have a decorative swimsuit converter which enhances appearance of the converted thong style.
In one embodiment, the present invention is directed to a swimsuit converter comprising a plurality of extensions, each extension having a first end portion and an opposing second end portion connected to an attachment means, the first end portions of the plurality of extensions being connected together; wherein attaching two of the extensions through the attachment means to two sides of a bottom rear panel of a swimsuit and attaching one or more the extensions through the attachment means to one or more locations around the waist portion of the swimsuit enables a conversion of the bottom of the swimsuit to a shape which provides more body exposure.
In a further embodiment, the swimsuit converter of the present invention comprises a center connection means; and a plurality of extensions, first end portions of the extensions being connected to the center connection means, and an attachment means being connected to a second end portion of each of the extensions. Alternatively, the extensions are foldable at the second ends for attaching to the swimsuit; therefore, no attachment means are required.
In an alternative embodiment, the swimsuit converter has two extensions with one end connected to the center connection means, and another end connected to an attachment means. When in use, a swimsuit wearer attaches one extension through the attachment means to a location around the waist portion of a bottom rear panel of a swimsuit and enfolds the bottom rear panel of a swimsuit with the second extension, and connects the attachment means of the second extension to the center connection means to hold the rear panel together.
In another embodiment, a swimsuit converter of the present invention comprises a first extension, each of two end portions of the first extension having a connection means enabling interconnection between the two connection means, and a second extension, with a first end connected to a point along the first extension, and with a second end portion connected to an attachment means. When in use, a swimsuit wearer attaches the attachment means of the second extension to a location around the waist portion of a bottom rear panel of a swimsuit and has the first extension enfolding the bottom rear panel of the swimsuit, and interconnects the two connection means to convert a swimsuit style.
In an additional embodiment, the present invention provides a kit for making a swimsuit converter.